The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus, and, more particularly, to a thermal transfer recording apparatus for recording informations by using a wide strip-shaped carrier such as, for example, a transfer film to which a recording ink or any other record forming material is applied as in facsimiles or lineprinters.
In for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,511, a thermal transfer recording apparatus is proposed wherein a carrier such as a transfer film to provided to which a recording ink or any other record forming material to be melted by heat is applied, and a recording medium such as a recording paper is laid on the carrier and moved together therewith. In a recording section, the ink or the like is melted by heating elements which constitute the recording section to transfer the ink to the recording medium.
In a thermal transfer recording apparatus of the aforementioned type, to obtain a quality image or a high resolution recording, it is necessary to move or feed the carrier such as transfer film and the recording medium together so that the recording paper has minimum crease or strain thereon.
More particularly, in order to achieve a high speed line-recording by using a wide carrier, as in facsimile machines or line-printers, it is very important to convey such a wide carrier without any crease or strain and, for this reason, in the facsimile machines or line-printers, by using a prewound carrier roll independent of the recording medium, the carrier and the recording medium overlap one on another and are fed together. In the recording section having a thermal head, the recording is achieved, and after the recording the carrier is wound on another roll and with the recording medium then being fed out of the recording apparatus.
A disadvantage of the above described construction, resides in the fact that, since the recording medium is fed out of the recording apparatus, a considerable amount of recording medium and carrier must be fed out in a non-recorded condition. For example, in a situation wherein the recorded medium is cut by a cutter and fed out of the recording apparatus after the recording, the recording medium is fed from the recorded section to the cutting section in the non-recorded condition, and, the carrier is wound on the reel in the non-recorded condition in correspondence with the feeding amount of the recording medium. Thus, portions of the carrier and the recording medium remain in a useless non-recorded condition.
To avoid this problem, it is possible to move a carrier and the recording medium in the reverse direction to a predetermined extent after a recording however, in the prior art apparatus, the feed forces applied to the carrier and the recording medium are different from each other so that creases and strains are inevitable.
An object of the present invention is to effectively utilize a carrier such as, for example, a transfer film and a recording medium such as, for example, a recording paper by conveying the carrier and the recording medium in the normal direction or feeding them in the reverse direction without any crease or strain generated in the carrier and the recording medium.
According to the present invention, a thermal transfer recording apparatus is provided wherein a carrier, such as a pre-rolled transfer film, independent of a recording medium, such as recording paper, includes a recording section, composed of rollers, and a thermal transfer recording apparatus which comprises means for imparting a normal/reverse rotational force to the recording section, feeding means for feeding at least the recording medium after the transfer recording, with the feeding means being provided downstream of the recording section. A mechanism is provided for winding/rewinding the carrier separated from the recording medium after the transfer recording, and feeding means are provided for feeding the recording medium and the carrier in the normal/reverse direction without any crease or strain in the recording section.